As bets flow in on McGregor, he taunts Mayweather with mural

The Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor bout slated for Aug. 26 may be about as competitive as hurricane-vs.-daffodil, but it’s already the most-hyped bout of the new millennium. The next two months will be a nonstop barrage of promotion and trash-talk, and McGregor appears willing to stoke the flames at every turn.

On Instagram, McGregor posted an artfully posed portrait of himself with the caption “I am a filthy Irish animal.” All well and good, but take a look at the mural behind McGregor:

A post shared by Conor McGregor Official (@thenotoriousmma) on Jun 19, 2017 at 7:02pm PDT

Yeah, that sure looks like an artist’s rendering of McGregor knocking the teeth out of a boxer who sure looks like Mayweather (Update: it is Mayweather). The fact that McGregor has that on his wall not only suggests the kind of arrogance that’s going to sell this fight hard, but also indicates the fight has been on McGregor’s mind for awhile; you don’t just crank out a mural like that in a few hours.

McGregor’s got reason to be feisty, at least for the moment; sports books in Vegas have reported a flurry of bets on the Irishman in the wake of initial odds that listed him as a severe underdog. Mayweather remains the overwhelming favorite, but some windows have, according to ESPN, cut his odds in half, from -1100 to -600 (meaning you’d need to bet $600 to make $100). That’s as a result of small-stakes, recreational betting—you know, like bachelor party bros looking to throw a fast $50 on McGregor because hey, who knows?

Of course, conventional wisdom runs a bit counter to these early betting patterns. Observers right up to McGregor’s own sparring partner believe this will be Mayweather in a rout. We’ll find out soon enough, but not before the hype avalanche smothers us all.